How Much Farther to the Top?

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Road Junkies 0 Comments

EAST COAST ROAD TRIP, Chapter 11:

IN WHICH NO HIDING PLACE CAN BE FOUND

Day 11: Atlantic City, NJ to New Brunswick, NJ. Before leaving Atlantic City this morning, we planted our "There She Is" letterbox near the statue of Bert Parks. Then we searched, and searched, and searched for a place to plant the other box we created for Atlantic City. We visited all the city's parks, a number of churches, and other places likely to have plentiful landscaping. There just wasn't a suitable place, so this homeless couple is now carrying a homeless letterbox around with us. We're confident we'll find a home for it before this journey ends.

We considered planting it on some of the support beams under the boardwalk. (Of course, we would have felt compelled to change the name.) However, when we walked below deck to check it out, we saw where someone had stored his clothes there and he soon came down to see whether we were bothering his things, so we abandoned that as a potential site since we didn't want to send others into his living area.

Old Barney

One of New Jersey's best known landmarks, Barnegat Lighthouse (nicknamed "Old Barney") stands at the northern tip of Long Beach Island on the south side of Barnegat Inlet. The original lighthouse, built in 1834, was of inferior construction and toppled into the inlet twenty years later. A 172-foot brick, completed in 1859, was designed by an army engineer named George Meade, who later became famous as the Union general whose strategy decisively defeated Confederate forces at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Barnegat Lighthouse's "day mark," or color pattern, is red on the top half and white on the lower half. This color pattern easily distinguishes Old Barney from other lighthouses along the Jersey coastline during daylight hours.

As we have discovered, many East coast lighthouses permit visitors to climb to the top during certain seasons. At 169 feet, Barnegat is one of the tallest lighthouses in the US, providing a challenge well rewarded by the view from the top.

DAILY STATS